Flint Mining in Northern France and Belgium: a Review
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Flint Mining in Northern France and Belgium: a Review Françoise Bostyn INRAP Nord-Picardie, UMR 8215-Trajectoires, 11 rue des Champs, 59650 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France e-mail: [email protected] Hélène Collet Service public de Wallonie, Service de l’Archéologie de la Direction du Hainaut I, 52 rue d’Harmignies, B-7032 Spiennes e-mail: [email protected] Jean-Philippe Collin Université de Namur, LIATEC, Université Paris 1, UMR 8215, Rue de Bruxelles 61, B-5000 Namur, Belgium e-mail: [email protected] François Giligny Université Paris 1, UMR 8215, Trajectoires, Maison René Ginouvès, 21 Allée de l’université, F-92023 NANTERRE Cedex, France e-mail: [email protected] Abstract: This article proposes an overview of current knowledge on flint mines in France and Belgium. Indeed since 1995 there has been no review of the documentation on this question and on the state of research regarding several themes: status of sites, dating, and product distribution. Several new discoveries in France resulted from preventive archaeology, such as Ressons- sur-Matz, Ri-Rônai, Mesnil-Saint-Loup, Espins or Loisy-en-Brie. Other formerly known quarries were rediscovered or partially explored at Soumont-Saint-Quentin, Flins-sur-Seine and in the region of the Saint-Gond marsh. In Belgium, extraction pits were investigated at Rullen, and in the Mons basin, excavation was undertaken at several sites (Harmignies, Villerot, Mesvin) and productions were studied on others (Flénu, Douvrain). At the major site of Spiennes, new shafts and workshops were excavated, with discoveries of human skeletons in their fillings. Extensive radiocarbon dating was undertaken on several mining sites, but this was still insufficient to characterize all the extraction activity. While the dates indicate a peak of exploitation in the 4th mil- lennium BC, certain mines such as Spiennes were exploited for a very long period, about 2000 years. The choices of production vary: certain mines with a local impact have productions restricted to rather domestic use, whereas others such as Spiennes and Jablines are massively exploited and diffuse at a regional scale, or even at a greater distance, extracting at depth and producing quality products with a high level level of know-how (Spiennes, Jablines). The analysis of the products distribution from these two mining centres shows that finished products circulated over several hundred kilometres. Keywords: flint mine, France, Belgium, axes, distribution networks, radiocarbon dates Introduction New archaeological data on flint mines Discoveries and rediscoveries in France The publication of a voluminous catalogue (in 1980, at the Bochum conference; Weisgerber 1980), providing Since the discoveries in the late 1980s of the flint mines the scientific community with a detailed state of at Jablines ‘le Haut-Château’ (Seine-et-Marne district; knowledge on flint mines throughout Europe, marked Bostyn and Lanchon 1992), during construction of a turning point in flint-mining research, at last a high-speed railway link, and in the Othe region, placing it in the position it deserved – at the forefront during construction of the A5 motorway (de Labriffe et of technological and socio-economic studies on the al. 1995a, 1995b; de Labriffe and Sidéra 1995a, 1995b), European Neolithic. This catalogue was updated in some new flint mines have been added to the corpus of a special volume of Archaeologia Polona, published on mining sites in France (Fig. 1). the occasion of the 7th Flint symposium in 1995 at Krzemionki Opatowskie, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski In 2005, a new flint mine exploiting the Campanian district (Lech 1995). The present special volume in level was discovered at Ressons-sur-Matz, Oise honour of Jacek Lech provides us the opportunity to district (Beaujard and Bostyn 2008). Unfortunately, propose a new synthesis of knowledge acquired over the no excavation was conducted on this site, and only last 20 years on the subject, focusing however on north- the information collected during the archaeological western France and Belgium. Nevertheless, the aim of diagnostic is available today. The removal of subsoil this article is not only to provide an inventory of recent on a surface of 2000m2 in addition to trial trenches discoveries, but also to address some particular topics, helped to delimit the extraction area to the north, where significant progress has been made, such as the south and east, while the site continues westward out status of mining sites, the dating of mining activity or of the excavated zone. Thirty-eight extraction features the distribution networks of specialised productions. were mapped on surface but just one was partially 25 Between History and Archaeology Fig. 1. Map of the flint mines in France and Belgium. CAD: F. Giligny. excavated. The shaft is 2.75m deep and the length of low intensity of extraction underground. The lithic the galleries at the bottom is no greater than 2.5m. The remains testify almost exclusively to axe production, archaeological finds from the filling of the shaft consist even if some cores indicate flake production. This flint essentially of waste, particularly with a fragment of mine belongs to the mining complex of the Othe region bifacial preform. Only one fragment of unworked deer defined at the time of the A5 motorway excavations (de antler was found on the bottom of one gallery and was Labriffe and Thebault 1995), including the flint mines probably a reserve for the manufacture of mining tools. of Villemaur-sur-Vanne ‘les Orlets’ and ‘Le Grand Bois Even if we cannot extrapolate the evidence from one pit Marot’ (de Labriffe et al. 1995a, 1995b) and the mine to the entire flint mine, the proximity of the shafts on of Palis ‘le Buisson Gendre’ (de Labriffe and Sidéra the surface suggests that this mine is composed of small 1995a). It shares many common characteristics, such and relatively shallow shafts. The best comparisons can as the morphological diversity of the features, the low be found on the flint mines of Nointel and Hardivillers intensity of exploitation of the flint levels and the high (Oise district; Dijkman 1980; Agache 1959) and the density of pits on surface. Ressons flint mine seems to match the standard Picardy mining sites exploiting Cretaceous levels through small Recently, another new flint mine was found at Loisy-en- shafts with chambers or short galleries. Brie (Marne district) during the construction of a house (Martineau et al. 2014). The extraction features are also In 2009, another flint mine was discovered at Mesnil- shallow pits or small shafts with a few short galleries. Saint-Loup (Aube district) and the excavations Sometimes the features are several metres wide but no conducted in 2010 on a surface of 8000m2 revealed more more than one metre deep, because the flint levels in than 560 extraction features which were all mechanically the Campanian chalk outcrop here. excavated (Hauzeur et al. 2010). Various types of features have been found, from simple mining pits (on A new flint mine was discovered at Ri-Rônai (Orne average 0.90m deep) to deeper shafts (maximum 2.85m district) in advance of construction of the A88 deep) with short and more or less radiant exploitation motorway between Caen and Sées. A surface area of at the bottom. The high density of pits on the surface, 2.2ha was investigated and 550 features were identified some of them adjacent, probably resulted from the (Ghesquière et al. 2012). Five main types of feature 26 Françoise Bostyn et al.: Flint Mining in Northern France and Belgium were encountered: single pits that were not deep but vary from one mine to another. Dating of these sites sometimes several metres wide, shafts with chambers is not firmly established for the moment, as only one or with complete exploitation at the bottom all around date is available (others are in progress), but the close the shaft, approximately 1.2m deep, deeper shafts (2m) relationship between the flint mines and the collective of 2/3m diameter on surface, and deeper shafts (4m), tombs suggests at least one operating phase during the sometimes with two extraction levels. In these cases Late/Final Neolithic. the level of raw material is completely exploited and additional galleries are sometimes dug and extend the Finally, we can mention a collective research project existing ones. Raw material included in the Jurassic directed by François Giligny on the flint mine of Flins- chalk levels comes in the form of regular and very sur-Seine (Yvelines district), first identified by surface compact spheres that do not offer a suitable angle collections of abundant lithic artefacts, especially for knapping. It is necessary to break these spheres flaked axes. The comparison of aerial photographs into two, then use each half independently. The main and geophysical surveys confirmed the existence of production conducted on the mine is also axe blade extraction features (Giligny and Bostyn 2016), but none production, carried out on the half spheres or on large have been excavated. The important work of recording, flakes. mapping and production analysis has clarified the different stages of the operational sequence of axe The last flint mine discovery that may be mentioned, production, which are strictly comparable to those is that of Espins ‘Foupendant’ (Calvados district), made known from the flint mine of Jablines where the same during an archaeological diagnostic (Charraud 2015) tertiary raw material has been exploited. Moreover, when thirty three extraction features were discovered. the terms of distribution of finished or semi-finished Four of them, mechanically excavated, are simple pits products, especially towards western France, was which depth can reach 3.3m. The Cinglais flint exploited clarified. This research enlarged to all raw material in these shafts has been searched exclusively for blade available locally or imported from distant regions production performed by indirect percussion.